Startup School changed my life. I went to Startup School 2008 during my second year at Stanford. I had never heard of YCombinator, but a friend involved with t

Startup School changed my life. I went to Startup School 2008 during my second year at Stanford. I had never heard of YCombinator, but a friend involved with the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) had encouraged me to check it out because it was on campus. After hearing inspiring talks from PG, PB, SamA, DHH and the other speakers and meeting lots of founders, I joined BASES, where I met and started working with Ricky. I knew pretty soon that I wanted to start a company with him. Fast forward a year to Startup school 2009: Ricky and I had been working on a few ideas while in school and met Mark, who had just come back to Stanford after dropping out to work on a startup. I ended up working with Mark on a class project a few months later before the three of us formed a company and were fortunate enough to be part of the amazing Summer 2010 batch of YC. Attending Startup School last year was surreal - here I was right out of school working on my own company surrounded by an amazing community of entrepreneurs. And the energy at Startup School was STILL overwhelming, even after having gone twice and been through YC. There aren't many other places on the planet where you find several hundred smart, super hard-working, energetic people who firmly believe they can build the next Google packed into a single auditorium.